"Are You Average" is a Math/Science investigation we have done for several years. We felt it would lend itself very well to improvement through the use of the web tools we have learned about in class.
We chose web tools that made data gathering and sharing seamless (Google documents), and provided quick links to graphing websites for students. We were impressed by voki.com and knew that our students would love our voki--they did! The slide show of all the elements of the project, set to music ("Stuck in the Middle with You") also was chosen to pique the students' interest and make the project more fun and visually appealing. We used e-mail to keep parents informed of project due dates and opportunities for bonus points.
The use of web tools will improve our teaching (and has already shown its value) by streamlining the gathering and sharing of data. Students are finding it much easier to use the data in its current display to create their representations than they did previously, when they had to struggle to read each other's handwriting and scramble to get data from students who had been absent. Besides the improvement in the ways data is shared, the presentation of the project itself is much more visually appealing than it was before the redesign. The students have become increasingly inquisitive about technology and how we used it (and how they can use it too). Their interest in "Are You Average" is SO much higher than it was before. Not to mention, the links to the graphing websites made it much easier for the students to know where to go to complete the project as well as get copies of papers they may have "lost". This project was their first introduction to blogs and wikis, since they needed to use both to successfully complete the project.
Now that we have redesigned our lesson, we will be able to tweak it easily in future years and make the learning and technology even more accessible to the students. Technology has also been extremely beneficial in getting parents involved in their children's learning. We have benefited greatly from learning how to incorporate web tools into our practice, and our students will reap the rewards.
"Are You Average" is a Math/Science investigation we have done for several years. We felt it would lend itself very well to improvement through the use of the web tools we have learned about in class.
We chose web tools that made data gathering and sharing seamless (Google documents), and provided quick links to graphing websites for students. We were impressed by voki.com and knew that our students would love our voki--they did! The slide show of all the elements of the project, set to music ("Stuck in the Middle with You") also was chosen to pique the students' interest and make the project more fun and visually appealing. We used e-mail to keep parents informed of project due dates and opportunities for bonus points.The use of web tools will improve our teaching (and has already shown its value) by streamlining the gathering and sharing of data. Students are finding it much easier to use the data in its current display to create their representations than they did previously, when they had to struggle to read each other's handwriting and scramble to get data from students who had been absent. Besides the improvement in the ways data is shared, the presentation of the project itself is much more visually appealing than it was before the redesign. The students have become increasingly inquisitive about technology and how we used it (and how they can use it too). Their interest in "Are You Average" is SO much higher than it was before. Not to mention, the links to the graphing websites made it much easier for the students to know where to go to complete the project as well as get copies of papers they may have "lost". This project was their first introduction to blogs and wikis, since they needed to use both to successfully complete the project.
Now that we have redesigned our lesson, we will be able to tweak it easily in future years and make the learning and technology even more accessible to the students. Technology has also been extremely beneficial in getting parents involved in their children's learning. We have benefited greatly from learning how to incorporate web tools into our practice, and our students will reap the rewards.